One of the best things for horseplayers on huge racing days is the plethora of horizontal wagering opportunities made available. I say this not because it is wise to bet them all, but more so it gives us options on how to choose to leverage our strongest opinions. The Belmont Stakes Racing Festival has upped their game this year with a menu that as always includes everything on the normal agenda, plus plenty of special wagers as well. It is a bit difficult to keep track of. Hopefully, I can help.
The special wagers on Wednesday and Thursday are limited with just a Two-Day Pick 4 each day, but things pick up on Friday. The Two-Day Pick 6 and Two-Day Turf Pick 5 both present reasonable options for horseplayers given their 15% takeout rate. The Pick 5 minimum denomination is the normal 50-cents, but the Pick 6 is a 20-cent minimum, not the normal $1. Both have a mandatory payout clause.
Friday also offers players a chance at two $5 minimum Daily Doubles with the standard 18.5% takeout rate. The Acorn-Belmont Double features a pair of Grade 1 dirt races for three-year-olds, while the New York-Belmont Double is a Grade 1 turf-to-dirt handicapping puzzle.
If you are only available over the weekend, the New York Racing Association also has a few BSRF Special Wagers available for Saturday only. The first is an international offering. The Epsom Derby-Belmont Double kicks off at 10:30 AM eastern/7:30 pacific so it will require an early start, but it is unique and has just a $2 minimum. The Woody Stephens-Belmont Double and Met-Mile Daily Double feature the same format as the pair of Doubles that commence on Friday. The additional options give players the opportunity to tie up Fierceness and Sovereignty or Citizen Bull and Journalism in the day’s biggest dirt races.
So, the next question is what sequences offer the best opportunities. That is obviously subjective to a point, but here are a few I am most excited about wagering on at Saratoga.
The Two-Day Pick 6 and Two-Day Pick 5 offer the best opportunity thanks to their low takeout rates and ability to take advantage of multiple mistakes from the public in the same bet. The Pick 5 is all-turf, has 79,200 combinations before scratches, and kicks off with the New York (G1) and Just a Game (G1) on Friday and continues with the Jaipur (G1), Pennine Ridge (G3) and Manhattan (G1) on Belmont Day. She Feels Pretty, Think Big, and Zulu Kingdom will all be common singles within the sequence. If you like them, you can go thin and try to hit it multiple times. The alternative approach could lead to a huge Belmont Day score.
The Two-Day Pick 6 is all-dirt and features a pair of races for the girls on Friday and a quartet for the boys on Saturday. NYRA opted to get things rolling with the Bed O’Roses (G2) where Ways and Means will be a short price to start the sequence. The Ogden Phipps (G1) is a bit more wide-open to conclude the day 1 action. From there it is a pair of high-quality compact groups in the True North (G3) and Met Mile (G1) before the day’s best betting race, the Woody Stephens (G1). The 7-furlong sprint for 3YOs features a full field of high-quality animals. The public is likely to use several in here, so if you can narrow things down it should work to your advantage. The Pick 6 of course closes with the third leg of the Triple Crown. You will be eating well on Saturday night, if you can find a way to somehow beat the top three choices on the morning line.
With all of the Daily Double options closing with the Belmont Stakes, it is probably wise to pick one or two that you feel best about. It is a no brainer for me. The Woody Stephens is one of the best dirt one-turn races in recent memory in terms of quality and quantity. There is no doubt that I will be attacking the Woody Stephens-Belmont Double!
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